This story is for TNT's contest thing. Hope you enjoy it!
HRTF
Postscript: this goes along with another story I'm writing and it helps explain some of the history of my fantasy country, just to let you know...
An Excerpt from the History of Hallinaria
This is the story of a man whose name, in his time, was feared by all who heard it. This man, who originally came from the island of Altanis, is now dead, killed by another great man whose story is told in other places. You’ll hear about him later. For right now, we should just start with the name of the man who this story is about: Hallifore. The easiest way to begin this story is just to start at the very beginning of the world.
At the time my story begins, the world was very new and the people in it were just establishing countries where the different races of peoples would live. The strong and handsome Men inhabited the middle countries, which became known as Sinclair. The tall and graceful people called the Arnaeth chose the lands near the sea as their home and named it Helia. These were the two greatest races, and they were the ones that prospered and grew the most. The smaller races spread out to the other lands, such as Ankthmar and the Barbarian Territories.
After the peoples had settled down, they began to make kings for themselves and establish governments and powers. The Men elected Elloth, the son of Naragund, as their king and built him a great house atop of a hill called The Tarraten in which to live. Elloth married Marogale and she birthed him a son, Ellothiian, and two daughters, Nelogale and Krillian, all of which grew to a great height, towering a full head higher than the rest of their race.
The Arnaeth set up Chrinophen, son of Aleucian I, as their king. Seinocen became his wife and shortly after their marriage, she conceived a son. But Seinocen was a very weak woman and she died in childbirth without ever seeing her child, who died with her. After this, Chrinophen lamented for his wife for three years before he married both the daughters of Elloth. This came to be in a strange way, which I will now lay before you. Nelogale hated Chrinophen, for he was much older than she, but her father began to force her to marry him, so that a pact might be set up between the two countries Sinclair and Helia. Now, Nelogale and Krillian looked quite alike, almost like twins, and Elloth planned to use this to his gain, for he loved Nelogale more than Krillian. His plan was this: on the wedding day, he would sneak Krillian into the room to replace Nelogale, so that Chrinophen would marry his second daughter by mistake, and then not realize it until it was too late. What would he be able to do when once he found he had been tricked? Certainly he would not be able to force Elloth to give up Nelogale to him! And then the pact of peace between Sinclair and Helia would be sealed and Chrinophen would be able to do nothing about it.
So when the wedding day arrived, the evil Elloth carried out his plan and everything went exactly as he had planned: Chrinophen and Krillian were wedded, with Chrinophen not noticing a thing. Now, a wedding in the land of Helia, a huge party was thrown that went on for three days straight. The first day, which is also the wedding day, a huge welcoming banquet is held by the groom and his family, at which, the two families meet each other in full. On the second day, the bride, the groom, and their immediate families spend the day celebrating. Then, on the third day, the bride’s family throws a huge farewell banquet that continues long into the night. Then the families disperse and the bride and groom move into the house which the groom has prepared.
When the night of the first day ended, and Chrinophen and who he thought was Nelogale lay down together, Chrinophen realized that the woman beside him was not Nelogale, but Krillian instead, he became overtaken by a great rage, crying out,
‘How dare you trick me? You are not Nelogale, who I thought you were, but Krillian, her sister! What madness is this? Whose idea was it? Answer me!’
At this he stood up, ready to strike Krillian, when she burst into tears. This touched Chrinophen and he comforted her before she relayed the whole of her father’s plot before him. After she was finished, Chrinophen stayed up many long hours into the night, before rising and gathering his family to his room. There he had Krillian reveal herself to them and tell them the whole story again. After this, Chrinophen and his father put together a plot to gain revenge on Elloth and then marry Chrinophen to his rightful wife.
Later that day, when the two families were together, Chrinophen was walking with Elloth along the balcony of his father’s great house, with his arm around his enemy’s shoulder, when he said with a smile:
‘Tell me; what made you come to the decision to marry me to your daughter, Krillian?’
When he said these words, the face of Elloth went white as a sheet, and he broke away from the grasp of Chrinophen and ran for the stairs. Chrinophen bent down, removed a small, intricately carved ivory knife from his boot, and threw it hard at Elloth. It went flying threw the air and stuck into Elloth’s back, right beside his black heart. He gasped, a surprised expression on his face, grabbed his chest, and then fell dead to the stone floor. Chrinophen stepped over his body and then ran downstairs to the patio where his family stood waiting. He walked inside the house and got Nelogale, who now realized the evil intentions of her father and also her love for Chrinophen. Chrinophen ordered his brother, a priest, to marry them then and there, which he happily did.
After this, the son of Elloth, Ellothiian found his father dead on the balcony and, after examining the knife and recognizing it of Arnaeth make, he, knowing the plan of his father, guessed what had happened and fled for his life with his mother, Marogale.
When they reached their own country, Ellothiian and Marogale told the other men what had happened and these men immediately set Ellothiian on his father’s throne. When he had been made king, Ellothiian grieved his father and his sisters, whose minds he believed had been twisted by the evil Arnaeth king Chrinophen. He then called together the generals and captains of his armies and they planned to make war on the Arnaeth.
Chrinophen heard of the fleeing of Ellothiian and his mother and then guessed what they would do when once they reached their own country. So he also gathered together his armies and formed a plan of battle to carry out on the army of the Men. Now, the Arnaeth had always carried some kind of magic about them down through the ages and Chrinophen thought that now was the time to improve that skill. So he and the most powerful magicians joined together and formed a company called the Alchemists’ Council. In this Council, they began to develop a magic so great that it could reshape land and wipe a whole race from the earth. As they were developing this power, the armies of Ellothiian began to attack, so Chrinophen was drawn away from the Council for a while to deal with the war.
The war lasted for twelve years and in later times it became known as ‘Aur Neirel Eluphien Siede’ or ‘The War that Shaped the Earth’. This reason for this strange name was this: up until the end of the War, the land on the earth had been all one continent that the different peoples had shared. This all changed when the Alchemists perfected their magic so that they could change the shape of land and destroy a whole race of creatures. They gathered together atop the tallest mountain in the land of Helia and chanted the words of the spell which they had prepared. As they breathed the last words, the land beneath them began to alter and change drastically: a large portion of the land which the war was waging on, including the great capital city, Austin, broke away from the rest and went floating out on the sea, a few miles from the coast. A great pit opened beneath the feet of the Army of Men and they were all swallowed by the earth, including Ellothiian himself, and his mother, Marogale, who was there to overlook how the battle fared with her son, so that few people of the race of men were left alive on the earth. Seeing that they had no enemy left, the people let up a great cheer, for they had finally won the battle. But the war was not over, for when Chrinophen returned to his house, he found that Krillian had been killed in her sleep by a spy that had been sent from Ellothiian. So the people grieved for Krillian for many long months. Thus ended The War that Shaped the World
After this, a time of peace began in the island, which was now called Altanis. Chrinophen and Nelogale had a son whom they named Hallifore. He grew up to be a great warrior, as you will see. Hallifore was often rebellious as a young boy, and perhaps the reason for this was that he was the son of a king and a great warrior. Since he was a prince, everyone expected him to live up to those standards, which, obviously, he could not. He couldn’t even lift his father’s sword from the wall, more less rule a kingdom. So he was very rebellious against his elders and his rebellion soon turned to anger, which then turned to hate. But he kept this ever growing hate for his parents and people concealed for a very long time and no one was the wiser, though I will not say that no one was suspicious of something going on in the mind of young Hallifore. Soon after he became a young man (in that country, a boy becomes a man around the thirteenth year of his life), he was elected into the Alchemists’ Council, for the Elders (that is what the Alchemists were called) saw some great power in him. Little did they know it was hate, which does produce power, but not the sort of power which they suspected. The power which was welling up in Hallifore was an evil, tyrannical power, and this would soon be revealed.
Not long after this, about fifteen years after The War that Shaped the Earth, another war began, ‘Aur Neirel Estanesse’, or, ‘The War that named Evil’. This is how it came about to be: the people of Altanis had already made it very obvious to other countries that they were a very magical people and had used this magic to destroy almost a whole civilization. These other countries wanted that magic for themselves, so that they would be, as they thought, invincible. So each of these countries’ kings and leaders sent ships with warriors over to the island of Altanis to try to steal as much magic as they could. So now the people of Altanis found many ships landing at their harbors, full of different people who were trying to steal their magic. Some got away with it, too, but they only managed to steal minor tricks, such as is used by street magicians today. This whole thing made Chrinophen angry. So he called the Alchemists’ Council together to discuss what they should do about the invaders. Some suggested making war on the other lands, others to burn the ships as they approached the Island, and yet others to leave the Island entirely. But it was the young magician who had been newly elected to the Alchemists’ Council who came up with a way to get rid of the intruders. He had remained silent for the meeting, listening to the older men argue, until he stood up and addressed them:
‘Fellow Alchemists! You speak of war or fleeing, and these ideas are not bad, but I can prove them all ineffective in one way or another. Firstly, Elder Thomas, you say that we should wage war on our enemy. Well, I think not. We are too few a people to stand against the much mightier countries such as Sinclair or Austintania or even the Barbarians of the south and would not stand a chance against them in any war. And you, Elder Bartholomew, you say we should cast a spell on the ships that would cause them to burst into flame. There is a problem with this, too. All civilizations grow and change, and our enemies will one day come up with a way to travel that does not use ships or even men. What I see is a great object with fire on one end that causes great damage when it collides with anything. This we could not stand against this weapon had we more power then we do now. We would eventually be destroyed whether or not these men continue to attack us. And Elder William, you speak of fleeing our blessed Island of Altanis. Well then, what is to stop our enemies from pursuing us? Even if we snuck out one at a time, there would be no way to conceal our actions from the great empires to the west. Eventually we would be hunted down and killed.
‘What I say is this: all of the Alchemists should work together to cloak the Island: hide it from sight and detection of our enemies, and make it so that they can travel through it as if they are traveling through a mist. And we should make it so that we could still destroy them if we wanted to, when they passed through our Island. We should also move the Island to another spot, across the Sea, as was done after ‘Aur Neirel Eluphien Siede’ before I was born. This way, all memory of our Island would one day either be forgotten or made a mere fairy tale.’
At this time, another member of the council, the one named Thomas, asked Hallifore a question:
‘Your idea is strong, young Hallifore, but, if put into action, what would keep us from losing our own Island?’
‘Master Thomas,’ Hallifore responded after a few minutes in thought, ‘I believe what we might do is this: we might make the spell which we cast upon our Island so strong that we would alter the shape of the Island in such a way that there was only one harbor. And in this harbor we might place two pillars of stone, each with a beacon set on it. And then every party or ship that left our Island would bear an object or something that maintained a current with these beacons that allowed the bearer or bearers of that object to see the Island.’
After he had said this, the Council remained in silence, then Master William spoke up:
‘Hallifore, your idea seems to be the best one so far. Yet, I say we should cast a vote on whose idea is the one that will most likely protect the Island.’
‘A vote?!’ Hallifore angrily interrupted the Master of Alchemy, ‘Is it not already obvious that my idea prevails over all? All of the others have major glitches, while mine is air-tight! A vote is therefore unnecessary. Do you not agree?’
‘Hallifore, sit down and hold your foolish tongue.’ The greatest magician was now standing up and glaring straight at Hallifore. Aluecian II, the most powerful alchemist ever spawned, Master of all Magic, he was the Supreme. ‘You have no right to interrupt your elder and wiser brother. I agree with Master William; we shall hold a vote. And Hallifore, you and I must talk later when this session is over.’
Hallifore slumped down in his chair, his eyes looking right at Aluecian, filled with hate. ‘One of these days…’ he thought.
‘At exactly midday tomorrow,’ Aluecian continued, failing to notice Hallifore, ‘we will all meet here to cast a vote on this matter. Be here! If you are not, your vote will not be counted. Session adjourned!’
The council dispersed, all except for Aluecian and Hallifore, who sat down in chairs next to each other.
‘Tell me, Hallifore, what is it that causes the hate in you? Why are you so rebellious toward everyone?’ Aluecian began.
Hallifore thought this would be what the Master would ask him and he had already planned his answer. ‘Elder Aluecian, I think the cause for my anger is this: knowing that I am the son of Chrinophen the Great, people have such high expectations of me, expectations that I will never be able to live up to if I continue to follow the path that I am going down now. I feel so, so, stretched, between this Council of Alchemists, and becoming a warlord and continuing my family heritage. And now I ask you, Aluecian, is there no way to do both?’
At this Aluecian sat deep in thought for a while before answering Hallifore. ‘Hallifore, it is as I suspected: your hate is caused by what other people expect you to live up to and you don’t think that what they want you to do is what you want to do. This would be expected of a prince. But Hallifore, the only other way that I see you being able to be both a king, a warlord, and a member of this Council is for you to become an evil tyrant and this is obviously not right. I think right now the decision is up to you; whether or not you stay an Alchemist is not for me to decide. Think on these things, Hallifore, and we will talk again next week.’
Hallifore returned home that night, very troubled. He did not talk to anyone, but went straight to his quarters and into bed. ‘Maybe a good night’s sleep will help me decide.’ he thought. But instead, his sleep was filled with many dreams that he did not like, dreams that are explainable in word, but are so terrible, that I would rather not explain them. The dreams made the night stretch on for what seemed like eternity. When he finally awoke, it was about the sixth hour. He dressed and went out to the same balcony on which his grandfather Elloth was killed by his father many years before. He leaned over the railing and looked out over the sea, facing away from the rest of the island, and began to weep. He wept for what seemed like hours before he finally came to a decision: he would stay on the Alchemists’ Council.
Later that night, when the Alchemists gathered together again, the vote was cast. Hallifore’s idea was the one that was chosen and it was immediately carried out. The whole of the Council trudged up to the top of the same hill from which the spell that had shaped Altanis was uttered. But what the Council did not know was that Hallifore had thrown in a few curses with the spells which they cast; a curse so evil that anyone who spoke of it was looked down upon by anyone else. Any foreign ship that uncloaked the Island, then sailed into the Island’s one harbor immediately became under the power of Hallifore. Whatever his wish was, the captain of the ship would have to do it, whether it was pirating or spying or warring, anything. The other curse which he threw in was also of evil make and was spawned by the hate in Hallifore’s heart. The second curse killed everyone on the Island, except Hallifore, including his family and friends and every one of the other Alchemists. When the spell was complete, Aluecian finalized it and then said the final words that caused it to work: ‘Nost-ista! Khil irooma!’, that is, ‘Spells, be made! Hear my voice!’ Then Aluecian and all the rest of the Council, save Hallifore, fell to the ground, dead. Suddenly, their bodies began to turn into a mist and were no more. Hallifore looked out toward the city and watched as the rest of the people also died and their bodies faded away. Thus ended The War that named Evil, for Hallifore had become evil and was the ultimate summary of all fear and hate.
From there, Hallifore moved to the northern parts of the mainland, taking Aluecian’s book of magic with him. He took over the northern parts called Ankthmar and ruled them as a tyrant and his name was feared throughout all the land.
But the rest of his story is told in another book.
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